GA -- Bagpiper killed in scuba diving accident; son who vanished 4 years ago found dead at home, Atlanta, March 2025

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Hank (the son) apparently worked with his sister Becca at a summer camp in Decatur—they look to be around the same age. The description gives me the impression he was a bit quirky, smart, and nerdy (I mean that in a positive way). I am wondering why this young man just dropped off of the family’s radar (and maybe dropped out of society altogether, as his FB posts stop in 2018).
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Meet Our Staff!

We have a wonderful staff here at FBC Decatur’s Camp, but of course you don’t get a lot of time to get to know them! Here are pictures and a brief bio of our amazing team! Meg Clark, Di…
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Obituary for Hank (Henry Doyle Colon Frantz)
realanastasia said:
Here is the obituary for Henry Doyle Colon Frantz: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/henry-frantz-obituary?id=57985432

It does not indicate he graduated from college, only that he attended and participated in the marching band. No jobs are mentioned either.
Click to expand...
@realanastasia Thx for your post w link. : )

From that obit:
"Hank is joined in the afterlife with both his parents, and is survived by his sisters .... and Francis Rebecca F. Culpepper (James). Hank also had the great pleasure of being an uncle to ten niblings:...." (sbm)

Niblings??? New to me, I like it. The things we learn on Websleuths.

"In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of an individual's sibling or sibling-in-law. A niece is female and a nephew is male, and they would call their parents' siblings aunt or uncle. The gender-neutral term nibling has been used in place of the common terms, especially in specialist literature."

Niece and nephew - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
It sounds to me like Hank disappeared and as he was an adult they just assumed he left of his own accord. He may have even said as much. Then, they are assuming, that he came back at some point and died in the treehouse (either drug overdose or suicide?)? I think even though at first it sounded nefarious, I think possibly it is just tragic. Mental health is a real thing and needs to be non-stigmatized. We need to talk about it and understand that it is not a weakness to admit when we need help.
 
angkg said:
It sounds to me like Hank disappeared and as he was an adult they just assumed he left of his own accord. He may have even said as much. Then, they are assuming, that he came back at some point and died in the treehouse (either drug overdose or suicide?)? I think even though at first it sounded nefarious, I think possibly it is just tragic. Mental health is a real thing and needs to be non-stigmatized. We need to talk about it and understand that it is not a weakness to admit when we need help.
Click to expand...

All we know for certain is that Hank was an adult. He very well could have come home intoxicated and found himself locked out of the house, and climbed into the treehouse where he succumbed to hypothermia. Regardless, a tragedy just the same that he was left undiscovered for so long. RIP Hank.

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Drinking and cold: a recipe for disaster | HealthPartners Blog

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angkg said:
It sounds to me like Hank disappeared and as he was an adult they just assumed he left of his own accord. He may have even said as much. Then, they are assuming, that he came back at some point and died in the treehouse (either drug overdose or suicide?)? I think even though at first it sounded nefarious, I think possibly it is just tragic. Mental health is a real thing and needs to be non-stigmatized. We need to talk about it and understand that it is not a weakness to admit when we need help.
Click to expand...

I agree. As far as I can tell there was no reports of a "missing person".
If his going missing was totally out of character, I think a Missing Persons report WOULD have been filed.

Hank and Rebecca were the children of the second marriage. Two stepsisters were from Henry's previous marriage. Maybe the death of his mother was a real blow??

It appears that the treehouse was build after Henry bought the house in 1990.
Hank was born in 1993.
That treehouse was, most likely, his and his alone.

I do hope that one of his sisters can provide more context. And the ME.
He could have only been in the treehouse for "months"
 
It's devastating that a young man in his 20s, thought to be missing of his own free will, was found deceased on family property. But it doesn't have that feel in these articles. Yet, I assume his parents were really hurting, not knowing where their son was.
 
ChatteringBirds said:
It's devastating that a young man in his 20s, thought to be missing of his own free will, was found deceased on family property. But it doesn't have that feel in these articles. Yet, I assume his parents were really hurting, not knowing where their son was.
Click to expand...
His mother had recently passed..before his disappearance.
The sister said the kids are all scattered, as to where they live.

Henry, probably filled his life with his piping activities after she passed.
And, being as old as he was, and seemingly active, probably had not been in that treehouse for decades....

I think I am hoping that the ME does NOT determine that his death was back to the time that he went missing. THAT would have been the only time, Dad or anyone would have even considered going up into the treehouse....
 
nhmemorymaker said:
I agree. As far as I can tell there was no reports of a "missing person".
If his going missing was totally out of character, I think a Missing Persons report WOULD have been filed.

[.......]
Click to expand...
Clipped by me.

IMO

I had that impression too. I didn't see anything about him missing previously.

It makes me feel sick, thinking of this man dying alone, after his mother, no one knowing and apparently (possibly) barely looking. Many questions.

The family must be reeling. I'm trying not to assume. As we've seen with Gene Hackman and the CT case of the man locked away, there are so many individual tricky dynamics and variables in families.

Seeing the pictures adds sadness. Knowing full well that looking "normal and happy" means nothing, I couldn't help but think they look so normal and happy.




IMO
 
realanastasia said:
Here is the obituary for Henry Doyle Colon Frantz: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/henry-frantz-obituary?id=57985432

It does not indicate he graduated from college, only that he attended and participated in the marching band. No jobs are mentioned either.
Click to expand...

From his FB and his Bio at the Decatur Camp link, we know that he was on a band scholarship at Univ of TN before returning to Decatur and his Camp position. Perhaps he returned home to be closer to his mother who succumbed to complications from lymphoma in March 2018.

His last public post on FB was a link to her Obit. Age 25 is young to lose your Mum. FB also showed him living in Snellville, GA (about 20 miles from Decatur), and employed as a window installer.

From his Dad's Obit, Henry Sr earned his Bachelor's (1971) and Law degrees (1974) with honors from Emory University in Atlanta.

IMO, first marriage would have been "short" in comparison to that with the love of his life.

He was fortunate to share and perform music with the love of his life, his wife, Frances Brodnax Frantz.
Henry married Fran on September 28, 1988. In other words, Hank's parents enjoyed a 30-year marriage together. More recently, Dad was fortunate to spend his "retirement" years fossil hunting and traveling accompanied by a friend and companion.

www.asturner.com

Henry Frantz, Jr. Obituary March 10, 2025 - A.S.Turner & Sons Funeral Home and Crematory

View Henry Frantz, Jr.'s obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.
www.asturner.com www.asturner.com
 
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